A powerful commercial dynasty long anchored in Mombasa’s port and logistics corridors is now contending with a series of courtroom defeats that threaten to dismantle years of dominance in regional cargo handling.
For over a decade, Autoport Freight Terminals and Portside Freight Terminals, companies closely tied to Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho’s family, enjoyed unrivalled control over strategic port operations and infrastructure. The Joho family’s control of key trade routes weakens as South Sudan revokes exclusive cargo allocations and Kenyan courts block Portside’s Khs 6.4 billion grain facility project.
But recent judicial decisions, combined with administrative changes in cargo allocation policy, have begun to loosen their hold on lucrative trade routes between Mombasa and South Sudan. A turning point emerged in August 2023 when the Ministry of Transport and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) authorized several additional companies to handle more than 1.1 million tonnes of cargo destined for South Sudan each year. A letter dated July 25, 2023, signed by Transport Principal Secretary Mohamed Daghar, announced that Compact Consolbase, Mombasa Container Terminal, and Mitchell Cotts would join Autoport in managing transit shipments. “Importers/cargo owners from South Sudan are free to choose any KRA/customs‑approved facility,” wrote Mr Daghar, signalling the end of Autoport’s near‑monopolistic hold on this lucrative market. That administrative shift followed complaints from regional governments and industry players over logistical bottlenecks, shipment delays, and allegations of unfair cargo auctioning. The legal blows intensified in June 2025, when the Supreme Court overturned an earlier approval allowing Portside Freight Terminals to build a Sh6.4 billion bulk grain handling facility at the Port of Mombasa. The judges, Philomena Mwilu, Smokin Wanjala, Mohammed Ibrahim, Isaac Lenaola, and William Ouko, ruled that the Kenya Ports Authority had unlawfully relied on a Specially Permitted Procurement Procedure rather than open tendering. “In other words, the protection of the supremacy of the Constitution is critical… there can be no greater public interest or interest of national security than to uphold the Constitution, its values and principles,” the judgment stated, signalling that procurement rules cannot be set aside on the grounds of expediency or food‑security arguments. Almost simultaneously, South Sudan, which is Mombasa Port’s second‑largest transit customer after Uganda, revoked an earlier cargo‑allocation arrangement that had given Autoport 80% of its traffic and Compact Freight only 20%. Juba cited delays, operational bottlenecks, and even the disruption of United Nations consignments, directing that five firms would now share the business. Under the revised formula: Compact Freight would take 30 %, Autoport 20 %, Compact FTZ 20 %, LPC Global 20 %, and Precision Container Freight Station 10 %. When Kenya Ports Authority hesitated to enforce the new formula, Compact Freight went to court. In June 2025, the High Court issued temporary orders directing KPA to allocate cargo strictly in line with South Sudan’s directive, cutting Autoport’s market share from 80 to 20 % while awaiting further judicial directions. Justice Peter Mulwa’s ruling not only disrupted Autoport’s revenue streams (potentially costing billions annually) but also reduced the Joho family’s long‑standing leverage in regional cargo logistics. Autoport responded by applying to join the proceedings as an interested party, arguing that it had invested heavily in facilities and agreements under the previous regime and deserved a hearing to defend its commercial interests. Justice Francis Gikonyo allowed the application and issued interim orders freezing any cargo allocation changes inconsistent with South Sudan’s June 16 directive pending a full trial later this year. This sequence of administrative reforms and court rulings has been widely interpreted as a dramatic rebalancing of power within the port sector. Analysts say the Joho family’s blueprint, from controlling South Sudan’s freight corridor through a Kenya Railways‑backed Nairobi ICD link, to anchoring a bulk grain logistics hub through Portside, is being systematically dismantled by a shifting legal environment and new political realities. After the 2022 General Election, President William Ruto moved to consolidate control of key economic sectors and to open historically exclusive government‑linked markets to broader competition. At the height of opposition protests in 2023, when government directives first began undermining Autoport’s hold, many observers attributed the company’s troubles to shifting political alignments. Yet even with the formation of a broad‑based government that brought allies of Raila Odinga, among them Mr Joho, into the Cabinet, the Joho family businesses have continued to encounter adverse judicial outcomes. Autoport had relied on a seamless cargo evacuation corridor from Mombasa to Nairobi via the Standard Gauge Railway and the Nairobi Inland Container Depot, while Portside leveraged its adjacent land and proposed to finance an island berth as justification for being awarded the grain‑handling tender without open competition. Those advantages now appear to have little weight against court insistence on constitutional compliance and transparent procurement. With multiple cases still in progress and interim orders offering only temporary reprieve, industry analysts say the Joho family’s once‑unchallenged dominance over Kenya’s gateway to East Africa is being rolled back, courtroom by courtroom, directive by directive.